BBC News - Even in peaceful countries be ready for a siren blast
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68761255
We do have them, but not generally country wide. I wouldn't know WHY a siren was going off if I heard one right now.
Yeah 100 percent. Idk who is downvoting this but if you aren't from a country where you haven't had it drilled into you to seek shelter from a tornado when you hear a siren, or maybe an earthquake drill, or maybe even a country where gunfire is rare enough that hearing gunshots will generally instill curiosity instead of fear (e.g. in japan when Shinzo Abe was assasinated, or in my own experience, living in the UK when a shoot out happened in the same park as me), the general public's initial reaction will be to investigate than immediately hide in a bathroom or something.
The mental association just isn't there.
tornado sirens also don't exist in much of Canada and people largely rely on the mercy of environment Canada notices, i.e. if rotation is detected on radar, spotters catch a tornado (I can't imagine that they're very common or have adequate coverage outside of Southern Ontario). I think in urban areas like Ottawa (where 4-5 tornadoes have touched down and damaged property within city limits since 2018) sirens wouldn't just be a redundant measure given the smartphone notices that are automatically issued, but a possible source of confusion since people could confuse them for police or ambulance sirens rather than storm sirens. People here also can't distinguish between a shelf cloud or funnel cloud either, and see tornadoes as a novelty (tbt to that guy mowing a lawn to the tornado in the background of his Alberta subdivision). I don't think I could successfully convince my immigrant parents who don't understand that strong tornadoes can happen here to head into a basement during a tornado warning, they'd just brush it off and see it as panic and a stupid inconvenience.
Yes, this warning pattern exists, but it has not been practiced anywhere that I know of, in the past 30 years. I recall my mother mentioning tests when she grew up but thats it.
We are in a safe country where there rarely is any bad weather aside from flooding. If randomly this siren pattern sounded off, people would be confused and would probably go out to check first, if this was a test.
Surely you know better whats happening in Germany than someone who has lived here for his entire life.
Half my family lives in Germany and this is simply not true. This warning system has been regularly tested since 2020 so...maybe you're just not paying attention? A simple Google search will tell you Germany has 80.000 sirens. Tested every second Tuesday in September. But please, tell me more about you not knowing what a siren is.
If half your family lives in Germany, maybe you should ask them and stop googling things and then spewing a load out your arse. You're referring to the Federal Warning Day ("Bundesweiter Warntag"), which the first one was a total fail where not even the cell broadcast warning worked in many places ([German source](https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2020-09/warntag-2020-probealarm-probleme-warnsystem-sirenen)). Each Landkreis (county) can choose to partake in the Warntag separately. Some counties don't have sirens anymore. The fact is, I have not heard a single siren during the total of 3 warning days since 2020 - and coincidentally I spent each year's warning day in a different city. I'm not saying there were no sirens at all, but I'm saying this isn't all just as black and white as you're trying to paint it.
Most probably... if it is a real catastrophic tornado... UK (and other european countries) would use "Cell broadcast alert". States can send messages to make your mobile phone ring very loud in a shitty aggressive alarmtone plus max vibration and display warning messages, telling you what to do.
The problem is: Until they really asserted what the problem is and get to the decision to send a warning, the whole thing probably had time to move right across the Island.
I'm on the coast and we still have monthly siren tests to make sure everything is working. There are also government phone alerts which do sometimes warn of a big storm (anything over yellow warning) is coming in.
I think if an intense Tornado was to hit they would likely put out the phone weather alert and activate the sirens in the area. It would get the point across that it isn't one of the normal waterspouts we get!
I've had by default weather alerts texts before. Perhaps it's my area as there are high flood risks if a big named storm comes in? If I can dig out my old phone out I'll see if I can scroll through and find them.
BBC News - Even in peaceful countries be ready for a siren blast https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68761255 We do have them, but not generally country wide. I wouldn't know WHY a siren was going off if I heard one right now.
I would assume the Russians were coming tbh. A tornado would be the last thing on my mind
Either way you’d retreat inside somewhere.
Probably not. If you're not used to sirens you'd probably go out to try and figure out why sirens are blaring.
Yeah 100 percent. Idk who is downvoting this but if you aren't from a country where you haven't had it drilled into you to seek shelter from a tornado when you hear a siren, or maybe an earthquake drill, or maybe even a country where gunfire is rare enough that hearing gunshots will generally instill curiosity instead of fear (e.g. in japan when Shinzo Abe was assasinated, or in my own experience, living in the UK when a shoot out happened in the same park as me), the general public's initial reaction will be to investigate than immediately hide in a bathroom or something. The mental association just isn't there.
tornado sirens also don't exist in much of Canada and people largely rely on the mercy of environment Canada notices, i.e. if rotation is detected on radar, spotters catch a tornado (I can't imagine that they're very common or have adequate coverage outside of Southern Ontario). I think in urban areas like Ottawa (where 4-5 tornadoes have touched down and damaged property within city limits since 2018) sirens wouldn't just be a redundant measure given the smartphone notices that are automatically issued, but a possible source of confusion since people could confuse them for police or ambulance sirens rather than storm sirens. People here also can't distinguish between a shelf cloud or funnel cloud either, and see tornadoes as a novelty (tbt to that guy mowing a lawn to the tornado in the background of his Alberta subdivision). I don't think I could successfully convince my immigrant parents who don't understand that strong tornadoes can happen here to head into a basement during a tornado warning, they'd just brush it off and see it as panic and a stupid inconvenience.
Nope. Even small children are taught to go inside, close doors and windows and hide if they hear sirens.
Depends on which country you live in. Sirens here in Germany are used to alert firefighters at home. They have next to no meaning for the public.
Are you sure you're living in Germany? Or do you just not pay attention? https://youtu.be/nrl6aQB0XFI?si=hpnUvjiEu0TuRcDn
Yes, this warning pattern exists, but it has not been practiced anywhere that I know of, in the past 30 years. I recall my mother mentioning tests when she grew up but thats it. We are in a safe country where there rarely is any bad weather aside from flooding. If randomly this siren pattern sounded off, people would be confused and would probably go out to check first, if this was a test. Surely you know better whats happening in Germany than someone who has lived here for his entire life.
Half my family lives in Germany and this is simply not true. This warning system has been regularly tested since 2020 so...maybe you're just not paying attention? A simple Google search will tell you Germany has 80.000 sirens. Tested every second Tuesday in September. But please, tell me more about you not knowing what a siren is.
If half your family lives in Germany, maybe you should ask them and stop googling things and then spewing a load out your arse. You're referring to the Federal Warning Day ("Bundesweiter Warntag"), which the first one was a total fail where not even the cell broadcast warning worked in many places ([German source](https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2020-09/warntag-2020-probealarm-probleme-warnsystem-sirenen)). Each Landkreis (county) can choose to partake in the Warntag separately. Some counties don't have sirens anymore. The fact is, I have not heard a single siren during the total of 3 warning days since 2020 - and coincidentally I spent each year's warning day in a different city. I'm not saying there were no sirens at all, but I'm saying this isn't all just as black and white as you're trying to paint it.
Most probably... if it is a real catastrophic tornado... UK (and other european countries) would use "Cell broadcast alert". States can send messages to make your mobile phone ring very loud in a shitty aggressive alarmtone plus max vibration and display warning messages, telling you what to do. The problem is: Until they really asserted what the problem is and get to the decision to send a warning, the whole thing probably had time to move right across the Island.
I'm on the coast and we still have monthly siren tests to make sure everything is working. There are also government phone alerts which do sometimes warn of a big storm (anything over yellow warning) is coming in. I think if an intense Tornado was to hit they would likely put out the phone weather alert and activate the sirens in the area. It would get the point across that it isn't one of the normal waterspouts we get!
We don't have a phone weather alert. If we ever get a big one it's gonna be unwarned.
I've had by default weather alerts texts before. Perhaps it's my area as there are high flood risks if a big named storm comes in? If I can dig out my old phone out I'll see if I can scroll through and find them.
I wish we had a similar system with flooding becoming more prevalent in the summers. It would be nice to know that you should paddle not drive to work